Disney has established itself as one of the leading studios when it comes to movies, TV series, and popular franchises. Between its classic Disney Princess movies, the action-packed MCU and Star Wars brands, and its collection of Pixar titles, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t seen or at least heard of the company.

Another, more unfortunate reputation Disney has forged for itself is its constant queerbaiting when marketing certain movies. Indeed, the company has, on many occasions, announced its “first openly gay character,” and proudly patted its back for seemingly taking steps at positive representation and inclusion. However, what has always ended up the case is these characters or moments being nothing more than a split-second “acknowledgment” — which is being generous, truly. Below, we’ve put together a list of all the characters in Disney films with this claim to fame, and how disappointed audiences were by the (unsucessful) inclusion.

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10 Zootopia

     Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Zootopia was the first Disney movie to ever include a gay couple, but this is not actually confirmed in the movie itself. Judy Hopps meets two antelopes while moving into her apartment, who unapologetically claim they plan to make a lot of noise. In the credits, the antelopes are revealed to share the same surname, implying that they are married. The screenwriters later confirmed on Twitter that the two were in a relationship.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

9 Finding Dory

     Disney

This example in Finding Dory is potentially the worst on the list, as the filmmakers refused to confirm whether the characters were in a lesbian relationship or not. Ellen DeGeneres even seemed to deny that they were together. Speculation began after the trailer showed the two women together, but yet again this was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment of representation, one that only made Disney look worse as it released during a campaign to give Elsa from Frozen a girlfriend.

8 Beauty and the Beast (2017)

LeFou was the earliest explicit and named example of this. In the run-up to the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, Disney announced that there would be an “exclusively gay moment” in the movie. Audiences were disappointed to discover this moment really was just a moment. LeFou can be seen dancing with another man at the end of the movie, for a split-second. This set the tone for the rest of Disney’s “first openly gay characters.”

7 Avengers: Endgame

     Marvel Studios / Disney

Avengers: Endgame features the first openly gay character in the MCU — allegedly — but, again, this character is not named and is only on-screen for a short amount of time. In a scene featuring people mourning those who were lost in the Snap, the non-superhero character (played by one of the screenwriters, Joe Russo) uses male pronouns to describe the man he was dating who was lost in the snap. After 22 movies, this first gay inclusion is expectedly underwhelming.

6 Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4 continued the trend of unnamed, tiny moments of LGBTQ+ representation, when two mothers drop their child off at daycare, and later pick up the child. On social media, the reaction to this moment was more positive than for some of the other moments on this list, but it still is a tiny moment that could easily be missed, with characters that are unnamed and have virtually no stake in the story.

5 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

     Lucasfilm

Director J.J. Abrams spoke out a lot before the release of The Rise of Skywalker, about how the representation was strong in this, the final installment in the Skywalker saga. The speculation at the time was centered around Finn and Poe Dameron, as their interactions in prior installments seemed to go beyond friendship, and the actors (John Boyega and Oscar Isaac) had seemed to be supportive of the possibility of romance between the two. However, all hopes were dashed as the representation in question turned out to be a kiss between two unnamed women rebellion fighters in the background of a fast-moving scene. Worse still, this moment was censored in countries with anti-gay laws. Once again, Disney promised a lot only to disappoint everyone at the final hurdle.

4 Onward

Specter from Onward made waves as it was Disney’s first named openly gay character. Specter is a police officer who sympathizes with Ian and Barley (disguised as Bronco), who seems to be going through issues with Laurel’s sons. She mentions going through a similar thing with her girlfriend’s daughter — this line was censored in multiple countries due to anti-gay legislation, but still marked a slight improvement in terms of representation in Disney.

3 Cruella

Artie is another character who was never explicitly described as gay in the source material — rather, he is presented as a queer-coded 70s villain in Cruella. This still caused a stir as politicians called for a boycott of the movie over this character, who briefly crosses paths with Cruella before she settles into a life of villainy. Artie is barely in the movie, and the only way you could assume they were gay is by reading between the lines. Once again, Disney offered representation without anything explicit, and fans were disappointed but not surprised.

2 Lightyear

     Disney/Pixar

One of the most unnecessarily controversial moments on this list, Lightyear features a gay kiss between a Hawthorne, a significant character, and another woman. The kiss was initially cut from the film, however, this sparked controversy, and Pixar employees spoke out against the studio until the movie was released with the kiss reinstated. This marked a major turning point, as the moment wasn’t like the others on this list — it was a bigger part of the movie, and wasn’t a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that could be shrugged off or explained away. The relationship between the women is meaningful, and the kiss is important. The disappointing way Disney handled it, however, cannot be ignored.

1 Strange World

     Walt Disney Studios

Strange World features Disney’s first openly gay teen character, Ethan, who can be seen acting shy around his crush, Diazo. Even though Strange World had a large budget and was released around Thanksgiving, the movie bombed at the box office. There has been speculation that this was due to the lack of promotion from Disney’s end, because of this moment. The movie was released on Disney+ shortly after it left theaters and has since done a lot better on streaming. Even though the age of the character can contribute to this significant moment, it seemed Disney did not necessarily want to commit to it.